Apple on Tuesday kicked off this year's holiday with a brand new smartphone, the iPhone 5S, coupled with an emerging market device, the iPhone 5C.

Despite the leaks, and the rumors proven true, Apple still had a few snippets of surprise up its sleeve.

The company's latest smartphone arrives in the same design as its 4-inch predecessor, but with an improved 64-bit Apple A7 chip. It will land later this month with iOS 7, packed with new features, a redesigned user interface, and plenty of improvements..

ZDNet: The premium next-generation iPhone 5S is sharp and refined, much like its predecessor, and comes in three metallic colors. Meanwhile its low-cost budget iPhone 5C retains the curves reminiscent of an older model, yet remains sleek and professional. Here are the first few snapshots of the two highly-anticipated devices.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet: Apple takes security on the iPhone 5s to the next level by adding a new Touch ID architecture that incorporates a fingerprint reader directly onto the device. This will please both enterprise users and IT admins managing BYOD.

Seth Rosenblatt, CNET: Apple's iPhone 5S comes with a front-facing biometric reader, the fingerprint sensor Touch ID. Could this be the beginning of the end for the password? Here's what we know so far.

Matthew Miller, ZDNet: Apple revealed a couple of iPhones today with different design elements and very similar pricing. The plastic iPhone 5C is not anywhere close to the value many of us thought it was going to be.

James Kendrick, ZDNet: Apple threw its big iPhone launch bash and in spite of the tech industry's best efforts to whip everybody into a frenzy it fell short. Unlike many years past, there wasn't much announced we hadn't heard before.